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May 20th, 2008: Home Cookin’
I am sneaking in a little visit to see my family in my hometown of Hope, in between the event in Charlotte and another in Vancouver at week’s end. So it seemed a perfect day to share this goofy little photo with you.
The one in the blue apron is me; that’s my older sister supervising in the background. I’d guess this is circa 1979 or thereabouts. And I am one hundred percent sure my mother sewed that apron, too. Although I can’t guarantee what is in the mixing bowl…an educated guess would be chocolate chip cookies. Back when we used to put in margarine – remember when butter was bad? – and used a Betty Crocker recipe. Eventually, we switched to the recipe I posted in the Recipe Share at www.comfortnovel.com. Take a look!
May 18th, 2008: The New York Times…
It’s really real. I saw it in the paper with my own eyes. The Friday Night Knitting Club is #1 in the May 18 edition of The New York Times. You know I’m bringing that home to show my parents! (And you want to know something else that’s wonderful? It’s going to also be in the top spot on May 25!) Thanks to everyone who has read my first novel or mentioned it to a friend or colleague; your support is phenomenal and I thank you sincerely.
Frankly, I’m enjoying a great weekend in Charlotte. I have an event Monday at Joseph-Beth and it has been a blast spending time with my best friend from college and her family. Back in 1993 we shared a room in the dorm (really a bathroom with two attached singles) and it’s funny how much has changed – and how much has stayed the same. I still continue to pull all-nighters like you wouldn’t believe, and she has two wonderful kids. Same and different. But old friends are good friends. They know your history and that is a precious gift indeed. My friendships are very important to me, a topic which I had much fun discussing with Debba at Girlfriendology.
May 15th, 2008: Lovely Lansing
The entire tour has been lovely but the reception I received in Lansing was absolutely phenomenal. A group of different ages, different backgrounds, and very different personalities coming together to spend an evening laughing, talking, and getting to know one another. That’s what my books are about! The sense of camaraderie and the general chatter in the room as we talked about Comfort Food was powerful. Whitney at Schuler Books put on an amazing event. She even brought wine and cookies for everyone!
May 14th, 2008: Family Fun
I took a little time in Birmingham to grab a bite with my husband’s aunt, uncle, and cousin. Which was nice because I feel as though Jon and I hardly see his family now that we live out in SoCal. Book tour, funnily enough, is often when I get to have little visits. Of course, having the family come to a reading practically guarantees a little something out of the ordinary. And so I barely kept a straight face when Donna tried to snap a camera-phone photo of me for my mother-in-law during my reading and her phone began doing crazy stuff and making noise – and then she got the giggles. A lot of giggles. This is what family is for, right? So here’s a snap just for Jon’s mom, Tricia, taken at the Birmingham Borders. It’s me with Fred, Donna, and Nik, who is way way taller than the last time I saw him, all grown up and a sound engineer.
May 13th, 2008: Thanks Amy
One of the cool aspects of a Chicago visit is a chance to reconnect with Amy, who is one of my favorite bloggers. Last year, Amy drove all the way from Chicago to Milwaukee to meet me and come to a signing. Then, in Feb, I dialed her book club and we all had a super conversation. And Amy, ever a trouper, came to Monday AND Tuesday’s events. Thanks, Amy, for being so darn cool! And special thanks to Genene at Anderson’s in Downer’s Grove for being wonderfully welcoming and setting up a great event. In fact, Genene, Amy, and a few readers and I lingered: The group of us just sat around and talked for a while, about books, work, grandmothers, and husbands. You know. Life stuff. It was a fun time.
May 12th, 2008: Bookclub Belles
Finally a trip to Chicago! I’ve always wanted to visit this darn city and I stayed right downtown, just off the Magnificent Mile. So I had a chance to wander around – and I even went to the local post office and mailed out a ton of bookplates to several book clubs. Bookplates are stickers I can personalize and sign, btw. Anyway, on my way to the fun book signing at Barnes & Noble in Skokie, I telephoned two more book clubs. (You can see Sandy and her friends, the Legendary Belles of Cincinnati, in the photo; we had a great chat that day.) And then when I got to the bookstore, there were members of three book clubs with whom I’d discussed FNKC! It is always wonderful to put faces to voices and names. Can’t wait to talk Comfort Food with these guys.
May 11th, 2008: FNKC is #1 on the NYT
I have a day off today and it’s time to spend a little quiet time absorbingall that’s happened this week. Not only has Comfort Food just been published– and believe me, it’s such a joy to have my second book come out – but Ialso learned some amazing news. And it’s news that your support helped makehappen! After 18 weeks on the list, The Friday Night Knitting Club is now #1 on the New York Times bestseller list!! I called my husband, my parents, mysiblings, my friends, and, of course, I want to share the news with all ofyou. Thank you for being behind this book and telling your friends, yoursisters, your colleagues, your book clubs. I appreciate it!
May 10th, 2008: Riley Rules!
Here’s a photo from a wonderful book group who came out to Tattered Cover in
Denver on Friday night. We had such a fun evening! And being in Minneapolis/Edina was a true pleasure. Minnesotans are so friendly. And guess who was there? Teresa, one of the members of the first book clubs I ever telephoned, and she picked up copies of Comfort Food for the whole gang! I can’t wait to talk about the new book with them. Yup, I’m already scheduling
book club call-ins for Comfort Food, and I’m looking forward to speaking with
so many of you. Special thanks to everyone at the Barnes and Noble in Edina,
to my brother-in-law’s sister who came to say hello, and to Riley, a little
girl who came right up to the front before I began reading and gave me two
spontaneous hugs. How cool is that?
May 9th, 2008: Tote that tote
A fun stop in Copperfield’s in Petaluma on Thursday – and a reader was
admiring my Comfort Food tote bag. Where could she get one? And so I told her:
Just sign up for my newsletter and you’ll be automatically entered into the
random drawings. And let me tell you, my mother-in-law loves hers. Plus they’re great for carrying books and/or groceries. So sign up for my newsletter and be automatically entered to win! There’s a drawing every week. (Here are the official rules and stuff.) Madison in Southfield, Michigan, Cindy in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Phoebe in Las Vegas, Nevada have already won Comfort Food totes as well as signed copies of the brand-new book before it was even in stores. And Sheryl in Lee Center, NY; Raquel in Sierra Madre, CA; Dori in Plantation, FL; Kunni in Gaithersburg, MD; Cora in Norwich, CT, Lucinda in Ballwin, MO, Sue in Jordan, Minnesota and Lisa in Palatine, IL all won Friday Night Knitting Club totes earlier in the year. I choose winners every week: you just have to join the newsletter for a chance to win! The best part? I send out newsletters infrequently so don’t let your fear of inbox overload hold you back. Sign up now – a tote bag could be in your future!
May 8th, 2008: Pleasanton was a pleasure
Had a lovely luncheon yesterday at Towne Center Books in Pleasanton! There was
wonderful comfort food with the several choices of yummy mac ‘n’ cheese and
delish cupcakes with candy happyfaces on top. Not to mention that everyone
there was delightful and asked lots of questions about FNKC and Comfort Food. Not only that – and this is so mortifying to a Canadian stoic like me – but someone asked me about my family and I became a bit teary talking about my grandmother. Again! You might remember from another blog entry that the same thing happened when I was at Warwick’s in Pasadena in January. I’m such am embarrassment to the tough stuff brigade; the stoicism society is going to revoke my membership. When did I become such an emotional mushball? But I do miss my grandmother – she of the card games, knitted sweaters, and homemade buns – even though she’s been gone eight years. One of the attendees today said “I only hope my own grandson speaks as fondly of me as you do of your grandmother” and that made me feel less ridiculous. I wouldn’t even mention it
except it seems only fair as part of my blog’s true confessions. Red-faced
stories from the road!
May 6th, 2008: Makeover Magic
Welcome to my redesigned web site! I’m very excited about this project, along with the stand-alone site for Comfort Food at www.comfortfoodnovel.com, and am eager to hear your thoughts. Post your opinions on the message boards or send me an email. Explore the site, read the first chapter of Comfort Food, check out the latest news, find out where I am on tour, read the blog, and check out the secret Baxter gallery!
Comfort Food is in stores TODAY! I am so excited about the release of my second novel and have been counting down the days to be able to share it with all of you. I’m on my way to the San Francisco area to kick off the book tour at A Great Good Place for Books in Oakland. It’s always a bit nerve-wracking to go out on tour and this will be my first time reading aloud from Comfort Food – wish me luck! (Go to the Books page to learn more about my new book.)
May 5th, 2008: Blog Buzz
There’s a lot of fun stuff happening online with Comfort Food! In terms of blogging, I’m generally pretty terrible at staying up-to-date. (Trying to be better…) But there are so many great bloggers out there and they do a wonderful job of supporting my novels with reviews, interviews, and giveaways. Check out the following:
May 4th, 2008: Cooking up a Storm
Visit the site dedicated to Comfort Food
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There’s a new website in town, and it’s all about Comfort Food. Take a peek over to www.comfortfoodnovel.com and you can see what I’ve been up to lately. (Well, with the help of my husband Jon, my pals Sara-Lynne and Rhonda, and all my friends and colleagues who voted on the many color options. It’s been a team effort.) This new site is the online home of the CookingChannel – the cable network on which the show Eat, Drink and Be appears. Never heard of it? That’s because it’s all fictional, part of the world of Comfort Food and its characters. But the site is a lot of fun, with quizzes, recipes (such as my grandmother’s homemade buns (coming soon!) and my friend Alissa’s gazpacho) that inspired some of the shows in the novel, and an online game for all of us to play when we’re procrastinating. (Don’t pretend it’s just me who does that…)
May 3rd, 2008: Packing Problemo
Time to start planning outfits for the Comfort Food tour. You know, I’ve always been on tour when it’s wintery. What should one wear for May? I know: I’ll just wear sweater sets, like I always do. I’m off to the drycleaners this morning and then it’s on to packing. (Okay, I’m kidding. I’ll be packing about 30 minutes before I have to leave for the airport. But I am really going to the dry cleaners in about five minutes from now.) I’m excited to visit some new stops on this tour: You can see a complete list with dates and times on the Events page. Starting on May 6 – the day Comfort Food hits the shelves – I’ll go to Oakland, Pleasanton, Petaluma, Denver, Edina, Minnesota, Skokie, Downer’s, Grove, Detroit, Lansing, Charlotte, Vancouver and Hope, BC. Yes, I’m coming to my hometown and I’ll be at The Blue Moose Café on the afternoon of Sunday, May 25!
May 2nd, 2008:
Comfort Food website
Go to www.comfortfoodnovel.com and you can see that “the CookingChannel” is promoting the release of a new book that goes behind the scenes of its new show. What’s more: find recipes inspired by Comfort Food, share your own dishes, join the message board, play the game, and test yourself with fun quizzes. If you enjoy Comfort Food or just want to know more, you’ll enjoy taking a look.
